Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Helping Hand

(Kai playing with his shadow. We haven't opened our curtains in probably 2 weeks, because of my eyes, so the kids were so pumped to see sunshine!)I love preschool. I love what he is learning. I love that I get to see what he learns each month through their party days. I love that he loves it. I love that I get a break. I love it that they tire the kiddos out for their parents. I love that Kai has learned to sit quietly in a circle!! Anyway, today the teacher said to me, `Kai is our best helper! He always wants to help with everything and always has his hand up first.'. Awesome. I love that!

(learning how to make the shadow of a dog)

He always says at home, `What can I do to help?'. He wants to be part of every meal, project, cleaning activity etc. It's exhausting but I think it's really good for him. If I end up teaching again, I will be sure to email/call/talk to parents more often on what their kids do well.

(He has that terrible dry skin around his mouth from licking his lips all the time and it's starting to hurt him. Any tips besides chapstick?)

Koen is wild. He is still just go, go, go all day. His favourite activities are getting into the garbage can, toilet or fridge. If he can get past the gate and up the stairs, he giggles with glee. He just toddles around all day long.

(This is his stone face. He gives it when he is first around new people or really just wants to cry but is mildly occupied)

He is about 50/50 on the breastfeeding and bottle now. He doesn't seem to be drinking very much which concerns me a little. He has maybe just 16 oz per day (4oz/4 feeds). This is totally different than Kai who was and is a great lover of milk. Kai probably had 32 oz per day at this age! Maybe Koen just gets more of his nutrients from solid foods? He def. eats a ton. I now end up going in to soothe him via feeding him once in the night as I just can't sit there and listen to him cry for hours at a time (because then i don't sleep!). I feed him and 5 minutes later, we are both asleep:) This happens prob. every other night. I'm planning on sending Gary in there to put him back to sleep once Gary is on Christmas break.

(His `I'm teething and it hurts' face. It also means, `I don't know what I want to make me feel better so you can't help me!'. )

Gary is full out into bball. He either comes home from work at 6:30pm or, he comes home at 4:30pm and leaves again at 6:30pm until 10:30pm. So, I'm on my own for either dinner or bedtime. Oh well, usually not both. He has the largest team he's had in years so that is good in terms of coaching kids who will be back next year too. So far, they had a tourney where they had one win and two losses. I'm trying to think of how they did in their league game and I can't remember. I know it was close though:)

As for me, I've been off my meds for over 24 hours. Read my thyroid blog to hear the latest (may not have Graves' Disease!!). I feel good, maybe 80% today. I have a strange headache and my heart and eyes are not doing too well. My body has really gone through a lot these last 3.5 months and it feels weak and sore and tired. I am sooooooooo hopeful that I will get better. I'm so giddy. Last night, Gary got us blizzards to celebrate. I had ice cream. Sugary, creamy ice cream. My mind is going wild with thoughts like, `We need to drive to Alaska with the kids this summer!'. Things that I've always thought we would wait on, I feel like we need to do it NOW in case something else happens. If it was PPT and I am possibly getting better, I don't know what I will do. The idea that I might not have Graves' Disease never entered my mind. Over the past month I have just been processing how significantly different my life would be. How sucky things would be for Gary. How the day to day would differ greatly. How, many people, just don't understand it. I'm trying not to get too excited yet....just in case. But the idea that I could have a normal life is so absolutely unbelievable!

Have a good evening all. I'm off to the couch to watch The Biggest Loser. I just need to say that I have not laid on the couch all day. What does that mean? I'm feeling not too shabby:)

7 comments:

For the dry, cracked skin around Kai's mouth you could always try Vaseline on it. I still have to do this with my kids sometimes now, just put a thin layer on. I usually do it just at bedtime but have done it more often when they were smaller. My kids always liked the chap stick and therefore licked it off and made the problem worse:)

Wishing you all the best with your health! Glad to hear that you have some hope for recovery now!

Great post! Kai is so cute playing with his shadow and I love Koen's stone face. So glad your eyes are feeling good enough to open the curtains! I hope you can sleep tonite, with all those thoughts whirling around your head. Continuing to pray for you!

thanks about the photos! And YES, if you don't think you'll use the snowsuit for Koen this year, I would LOVE to borrow it! I love second hand stuff, I just don't have the patience to hunt for it most of the time! And I love love love that you offered. I also have my books back from my doula client, so I can bring you those for Jantina. We'll start with 3 of them. :)

When is good for you, and I'll drop by and we can trade books for snowsuit?

maybe try lanolin cream on his lips? (I know, for nipples - but works GREAT on dried lips!).and hey, I think tyler and I are heading up north this summer - maybe we could meet up!!! (July sound good to you?).

Another thought for the dry skin around the mouth is polysporin. A few of my kids have been using it on their dry patches as well. It seems to help and heal! I love reading your updates, Louise. Your honesty and the pictures are both so great to read and see!

Hello!

Hi, I'm Louise! I'm a mom of three (five right now through fostering) and wife of super chef and science teacher, Gary. I love the great outdoors, photography, and spending time together as a family. Oh, and silence.